Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-02-10
THE COLD AIR CURE.
Exposure TO Draft Recommended
as II Cure for Catarrh.
Dr.. Osuald, an the Herald Of Heath.

| as Il Nutc iOE N0taIEus
Dr.. OsuaId, an the Herald at Heath.
| The benefits of cool air are not univer-
sally appreciated. A good many people
| are afraid it, especially at night, shut
| ting themselves in close bedrooms, where
their systems are poisoned and their con-
| stltutiors gradually undermined by
| breathing the bad air. And even hot or
| warm air that is pure-air in room that
has ventilation as well as heats deblli-
tating where breRthed all night.
| The evidence that pulmonary COM
| plants are inevitably and exclusively
caused by foul indoor air, and cured by
| pure, especially by cold pure, outdoor
air, can grow convincing to degree
almost affective to philanthropist, who
most often feels like traveller seeing his
! companions cropping In the gloom OF
| subterraneau labyrinth, and refusing to
| follow the clew that has led him back to
the sunshine of the upper world. The
remedial influence of fresh air Is so much
increased by low temperature that
''colds" are, in fact, far more durable in
| mldwinter than in midsummer. L
was shot through the lungs in
Mexico, and have ever since been
| susceptible to the contagion OF
'catsrrh factory" as a friend OF mine
! calls the unyentilated school rooms and
meeting houses of our country towns. In
warm weather | avoid such man traps as
| would the pit of a gas we'll, but in
| winter l risk their infection in the assur-
ance that its influence can be counter
acted by an extra dose OF ice air. On
returning from a crowded lecture hall,
a sitting sick room, a stuffv omnibus,
| ETC., | remove my bed to the draft side of
| the house and open window 10 the full
extent of it's mechanism. taking care to
go 10 sleep facing the draft. | have Of
| ten awakened in the morning with my
| head grizzled with boar frost, but with
out the slightest vestge Of the catarrh
which had announced its approach the
night before.
Cold is an antiseptic and powerful
digestive stimulant; and l here record
| the prediction that the hospitals OF the
| future will be ice-houses. Dyspepsia,
catarrh and fevers of all kinds can be
frozen out of the system-not by letting
the patient shiver in a snow bank, but by
| giving him an extra allowance of warm
bed clothing, with the additional luxury
of breathing ice-cold air, which, under
such circumstances, becomes as pretera-
| BILE to hot miasma as cold spring water to
warm ditch water. have also found
that the best brain work can be done in
cold room, and that stove heat has ten
dency to stultify like narcotic beverage.
| Warm wraps make fires tolerably dis
| pensable.
With regard to diet, where 1T is limited
| to natural food there Is no danger OF eat
| ing too much. Where sJimulants and
| highly-seasoned foods are eaten, it is a
| different matter. A man with a natural
| appetite may eat his plain, natural food
| without fear of overstepplng the proper
| limits. But the man with an unnatural
| appetite-the one who stimulates and
| lives nights always overstepping them
| and is never satisfied. A child instinct
| lively turns with disgust from the CORY
carcasses OF a slaughteThouse; but who
ever heard of a youngster shudderlng at
sight of a hOneycomb or nest full of
| eggs? l can rarely eat meat OF any kind
without paying the penalty in a feeling OF
the gastric distress, followed by a more
or less distinct nausea and troubled
dreams. But the closest observa-
| ton has never enabled me to
notice such symptoms as an
after-effect of an omelet or piece of
| bread and butter. The swelter-
ing noon is not a favorable time for re-
| pletion, nor is the early morning, when
| the energies OF the system should not be
unduly monopOliZed by the work Of di-
! gestion. A heavy breakfast handicaps a
| worker for the rest of the forenoon. OF
| all of the wretched slaves OF convention
who have to bolt their dinner in Mint
mum of time and hasten back to their
drudgery, and often to a temperature
| that must tempt them to barter a week of
their lives for one hour OF undisturbeG
sleep. A light breakfast and late dinner
| surprisingly ease the burden OF the hot
test working day. l never take noon
day lunch, and, in special eXigencies,
! sort of instinct has often prompted me
to dispense with my regular breakfast,
100, and 90 to work after chewing up
fraction OF hard crust or a couple of
dried prunes.
Early rising, carried to extremes, i'm
pairs the vitality. l would as soon rob a
child of it's food or Its clothing as to de-
| prive il of sleep in the morning hours.
when digestion is finished and dreams
become sweet. For orphans, as l know
from experience, dreamland excursions
are often for years the best refuge from
the realities of Christian civilization.